Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
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noun
Hesitation to act from the difficulty of determining what is right or expedient; doubt, hesitation or unwillingness due to motives of conscience; moral qualm.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A weight of 1⁄288 of a pound, that is, twenty grains or one third of a dram, about 1.3 grams (symbol: ℈).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Qualifier: pharmacy
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: s.ap.
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A Hebrew unit of time equal to 1⁄1080 hour.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A very small quantity; a particle.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: broadly, obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: ace, atom, thought, atomy, aught, bissel, bit, crumb, glimpse, dab, damn, dash, diddly, glint, dot, spatter, drop, dusting, fleck, glimmer, hint, flip, flyspeck, grain, halfpennyworth, inch, iota, jot, lick, mite, modicum, molecule, morceau, morsel, mote, ooch, ounce, particle, pennyworth, piece, pinch, relish, scantling, semblance, scent, scintilla, scooch, scrap, scruple, shred, skerrick, skoosh, skosh, sliver, smattering, smidge, smidgen, smidget, smidgy, smitch, smithereen, soupçon, spark, speck, speckle, spot, sprinkle, sprinkling, strain, tad, tidbit, tidge, tinge, tittle, toddick, touch, trace, trifle, tuppence worth, vestige, whiff, whit
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A doubt or uncertainty concerning a matter of fact; intellectual perplexity.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To hesitate or be reluctant to act due to considerations of conscience or expedience.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To excite scruples in; to cause to scruple.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To regard with suspicion; to question.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To question the truth of (a fact, etc.); to doubt; to hesitate to believe, to question.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive, obsolete
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
an ethical or moral principle that inhibits action
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: principle
noun
uneasiness about the fitness of an action
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: qualm, misgiving
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: anxiety
noun
a unit of apothecary weight equal to 20 grains
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: apothecaries' unit, apothecaries' weight
verb
have doubts about
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: wonder, question
verb
raise scruples
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: fuss, niggle, fret
verb
hesitate on moral grounds
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: hesitate, pause
History
From Old French scrupule, from Latin scrūpulus (“(literally) a small sharp or pointed stone; uneasiness of mind, anxiety, doubt, trouble; scruple”) and scrūpulum (“one twenty-fourth of an ounce”), diminutives of scrūpus (“a rough or sharp stone; anxiety, uneasiness”); perhaps akin to Ancient Greek σκύρος (skúros, “the chippings of stone”), from ξυρόν (xurón, “razor”), from ξύω (xúō, “to scrape”), from Proto-Indo-European *ksew-. Doublet of escropulo and escrupulo.
Across languages
27 source translations are retained for this English entry.
